I’m actually still going, but I’m shutting the internet off in a minute, and will crash as soon as I land the last thing for the night. Today has looked like:

HEAVEN’S FOREST Netflix notesgot out a light rewrite of an outline, filed itpartway through a rewrite of another outlinepartway through a PROJECT GENEVA moduledaydreaming about a new comics publishing idea I had, that’s going to be my trunk-novel hobby for the rest of the yearnotes on a long short story I want to write soon

(No, the new comics publishing idea will not happen, and I’m not going to mention it again, noting only that everyone should have a hobby and inventing new ideas and ways to show them is mine)

Well, I was intending to sleep all day, but some things landed in the overnight email that require immediate attention, so I guess I’m going to sit here typing until I pass out on the keyboard. Some of what I type may even make sense. More coffee. Listening to IMAGINARY FILM MUSIC (VOLUME 2) by Richard Skelton. Summoning what are left of my powers. Inbox 15, 12C right now, dropping to 5C tonight, just to remind me that I live in England. Here we go.

And the damn PROJECT GENEVA overview document is out the door. Two modules left to do, which I guess is tomorrow’s work. If I don’t just sleep all day. I’m kind of running on fumes now, and daydreaming about projects I won’t get to do, which is pleasant but not productive.

Congratulations to all my friends, colleagues and comrades who got nominated for Eisner Awards today! There are a lot of you — it’s a good year.

G’night, reader.

]]>6218Comics Train: 7https://warrenellis.ltd/comics/comics-train-7/
Thu, 04 Jun 2020 20:28:34 +0000https://warrenellis.ltd/?p=6215And, if it were up to me, per the previous chronological post, I’d either be working on some kind of self-hosted webcomic or I’d be on Panel Syndicate, both of which look like viable futures to me, and I’d be breaking every rule I could think of and experimenting as much as time and brain allowed. Because experimentation and trying as many new things as possible is both what is required, and what we’re here for.

If I’d had artists who wanted to draw my stuff and also hated money or had no need of food and shelter I’d have moved into Panel Syndicate years ago, and I’d be even more obscure than I am now, and very happy. But it turns out artists need protein, water and electricity. Some of them even wear people clothes. I mean, who knew?

]]>6215Vertical-Scroll Mobile-First Comics Toolshttps://warrenellis.ltd/comics/vertical-scroll-mobile-first-comics-tools/
https://warrenellis.ltd/comics/vertical-scroll-mobile-first-comics-tools/#commentsThu, 04 Jun 2020 19:55:38 +0000https://warrenellis.ltd/?p=6213Pulling this out of last weekend’s newsletter, because it might be useful to someone:

Last week, I was musing about emulators for the Webtoon/Tapas style of vertical scroll webcomics, for those people who didn’t want to be part of those sites’ ecologies and just wanted to work in that form self-hosted or elsewhere.

First off, there is Toocheke, which is a WordPress plug-in for webcomics. The basic plug-in is free, and there’s a premium version (at a fairly eye-stinging $79) that gives you Patreon and e-commerce tie-ins and other things. But the basic plug-in should be all you need, if you want to explore mobile-ready vertical-scroll comics.

Secondly, I got an email from one Matheus Teixeira:

In the last issue of Orbital Operations you kinda of sent a call to action…

Well, it sparked my curiosity as a developer and I tried to make a very simple and raw version of the idea, with the purpose of making it as easy as possible for anyone to run it.

Basically it’s a HTML template generator optimized for displaying vertical images with some navigational stuff appended to it (an auto-generated index and previous/next issue links), it’s all controlled via a simple manifest file and them generated with a single command line.

The result are very simple HTML pages that I think will be a great starting point (they are already “production ready”), but it gives space for the customization part of it the person using it wants to make it look more personal.

“I’ve always wanted a more personal flavor to this blog and some fun posts outside of essays on ‘music’s place in the 21st century.’ And, as I begin my exodus from social media, I’ll want to use this space to check in with the world. It’s my home base, after all — the hub of my digital world. So if you’re a regular reader or have this planted in your RSS reader, then, first off: thank you. And secondly: get ready for an increase in blogging action.”